


February Words #3: Gravel

by StaringAtTheTwinSuns



Series: February Words (2018) [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Between ROTJ and TFA, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gratuitous mention of porgs, Home, M/M, Multi, OT3, Post-Endor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 13:16:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13571334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaringAtTheTwinSuns/pseuds/StaringAtTheTwinSuns
Summary: Luke, Han, and Leia are looking for a family home after learning Leia is pregnant after the Battle of Endor. Luke and Leia both have a list of possibilities, but Han finds something wrong with every house they look at. Luke and Leia need to know why.





	February Words #3: Gravel

**Author's Note:**

> Part 3 of my February Words challenge! After yesterday's Luke/Leia centric fic, this one gives Han a bit more of the spotlight.
> 
> As with all fics in this series (and pretty much everything I write) this is canon-compliant with the MOVIES (other than the OT3, which could be argued for), but I don't really know if it contradicts any of the new EU. Definitely deviates from Legends.
> 
> As always for this series, this is a fic-a-day challenge, so it was a bit of rush job and is unbetaed! Feedback (including concrit, pointing out typos, suggesting tags, or whatever else) is always appreciated! :)

~5 ABY~

For what felt like about the millionth time that day, Luke Skywalker shot his sister an exasperated half-smile.  _ Take care of this_, it seemed to say.

"Han," Leia began, ever the diplomat. "If you can't agree that at least one of these houses is something other than completely unacceptable, the Republic's going to revoke our right to choose first." She lowered her voice to a mutter. "And Luke and I are going to regret giving you any say in this at all."

Although they all knew that they wouldn't be able to stop traveling the galaxy anytime soon, once they had found out that Leia was pregnant, they'd all agreed--or at least, Han had claimed to--that it would be nice to have a home outside the  _ Falcon _ . And this city--wiped out by an Imperial invasion, but with most of its buildings intact--had been one of the first on the new Republic's list of places to be preserved and revitalized.

They'd been offered a home here: Leia, Luke, and Han, and the baby that would soon make their family complete. So far, Luke and Leia both had lists of possibilities, some of which even matched up with each other. But Han found something to complain about at every single property they saw. The doorways at the first one were too low for Chewie (who had never complained about that before). The second one was too far from the cantina. The third one was the wrong shade of brown. For someone who'd lived out of his own beat-up cargo freighter for just about as long as Leia had known him, Han Solo was certainly particular about the kind of place he could call home.

***

"Come on, Han." Luke took his hand; Han let him, but didn't really grip back. "Let's at least take a look inside? This one's supposed to have an oversized bathtub." He lowered his voice. "Big enough for three?"

He wasn't quite sure if he was trying to be sexy, or just tempt Han to make a joke about the desert kid who had once been in love with baths. To be honest, at this point, Luke would have appreciated any reaction but the half-smile, half-grimace that spread over his face as Luke and Leia prodded him inside.

"See?" Luke said. "This would be the baby's room."

Leia nodded, then added, "And there's plenty of room for the droids."

Han rolled his eyes. "Just what I want: To share the rest of my life with Goldenrod."

But Luke could tell he wasn't really all that unhappy with what he was seeing. The mention of the baby's room had sent a little flare of warmth through the Force that he was pretty sure Leia had felt as well. And neither of them needed the Force to see the glint in Han's eyes as he ran his hands over the bar counter and gazed out the window at what could be their very own lawn.

"Just think." Leia slipped an arm around Han's waist, and Luke pulled him closer on the other side. "We could spend every day here, playing with our son or daughter."

"This town is perfect, Han." Luke tried to keep his voice calm-Jedi, but a hint of impatient-farm-boy crept in. "It'll let us start our lives, away from the fighting and the politics. And Leia's right... if we don't choose soon, they'll give these houses to other families, and we'll end up stuck on some military base with a kid."

Han shrugged their arms off. "Yeah. Well.... maybe that's better. I'm not exactly a one-point-five speeder, white picket fence, pet porg in the yard kind of guy."

***

Sometimes Han couldn't believe it, that Leia and Luke both were actually still with him. He definitely shouldn't have walked out on them like that. He maybe should have told them how he felt.

But he wasn't any good at that. Feelings were Luke's strong point. Words were Leia's. But Han had spent most of his life communicating with the business end of a blaster, and if their relationship had hit any snags since they'd finally pulled it together on Endor, he knew most of them were probably his fault.

He sat down on a set of stone steps that led up to the property from the highway. It  _ was _ probably a good place to raise a kid. Not that Han knew anything about that. It was rural enough to have nature and stuff, but a quick hyperspace jump from Coruscant.

No hostile aliens. The remaining human population--mostly elderly and definitely anti-Imperial. A spaceport and a school, both scheduled to be refurbished. A hall where Luke could teach his apprentices, and a decent holo-transmissions center that was already halfway finished, where Leia could keep up her duties while recuperating after the birth.

He should have said yes from the beginning, he knew it. And a part of him was still considering. Maybe. But no matter how close he grew with Luke and Leia, there would always be things about each of the three of them that the others could never fully, truly get.

Han heard the crunch of boots behind him.

"What do you want, Your Worship?"

"How did you know it was me and not Luke?"

_ Because you sound completely different from Luke _ , he thought.  _ Because I know your bodies, the way you walk, the way you smile and laugh and cry. _

Instead he said, "I dunno. Maybe I'm the one Luke should be training as a Jedi."

"Han." She sat down beside him, rested her hand right above his knee. "We know something's bothering you."

"And we want to know what," Luke chimed in from the top of the hill.

"It's stupid," Han said. He wished he had a joke to give them, something stupid that would make them half-laugh at each other and then give up and leave him the hell alone.

Leia twisted her head around to look him in the eye. "Han. What you want is not stupid."

Han sighed. "Fine. It's.... gravel."

"Gravel?" Luke sounded like he was trying to force back a laugh, and Han swiveled to look at him.

"Yeah. Gravel. There's no place to park the  _ Falcon _ . I put her down on this, she'll get dings in her siding, and--"

"Han?" Luke brought his gloved hand to his mouth. He was  _ definitely _ trying not to laugh now. "You do realize we can pave over.... all of this?"

Leia smiled. "I... think we can afford some renovations."

"I... of course I knew that." But Han hadn't really thought of it. After smuggling, and the war, he was so used to scraping by that... "I was just... you know, all the cost to the Republic?"

Luke and Leia met each other's eyes over his head, and Han could practically hear what they were thinking.

They didn't say it aloud though, and that was maybe why Han loved them. It was true that maybe they didn't fully get the way Han felt about the  _ Falcon _ . But they both had their own treasures, their own demons. And as much joking as almost always went on among the three of them, they all knew, somehow--Force or no Force--that some things were meant to be sacred.

It was Leia--with her gift for words--who finally broke the silence.

"The  _ Falcon's _ as much a war hero as any of us are, Han. I think the Republic will be honored to honor her in kind."


End file.
